For Chamber Day 2008 (click here for details on the event: Linkity) Chica and I were on the SunDiver. We sort of squeezed between two fun groups that had pretty much taken over the place. The Orange County crew (Deb Karimoto and company... is this the Dive Bums group?) and the good folks from Ocean Adventures Dive Co in Venice, CA.
I've dived on boats with one or the other group on a number of occasions - but never have I been bookended by the two. It was pretty cool. Nice folks all around.
I'm never late - but this morning I could not get my act together, so I rolled up at about 6:44 AM. Plenty of time to get on the boat and settled for a 7:00 AM departure. I was just frustrated with cutting it so close.
I get on and load up. Claudette got there a few moments before me. The boat is full and quite crowded, but everyone is friendly. I'm looking forward to getting on, snoozing on the way out and dreaming of clear water.
We get to Catalina, and we learn that our Chamber schedule permitted us to do both of our two dives before we were to dock and walk the chamber. I like that schedule best.
Cap't Ray put us on the edge of Eagle Reef. We had 3 hours before we had to pull up and depart for the Chamber, so we decided to stay in this spot and either make one really long dive or two normal dives. After the dive briefing, he came over to 'dette and I and pointed out a special spot on the reef, recommending we dive there, as we were the only two with scooters. It was a little further, but could be very beautiful.
Ray was right!
I made the call not to take in Wide Angle - the water was reportedly not clear, and I didn't want to schlep if I wasn't going to get good shots. When we dropped into VERY clear water, I looked over at dette, and she at me. I rubbed my eyes in a crying motion - signaling that I should have brought the W/A lens...
We scooted for less than a minute and the water got cloudy and particulate laced... And then the Nudi's appeared. ZILLIONS of Hermissendas. Huge ones, tiny ones, 5, 6, 15 on a single rock.
As we dived deeper on far corner of the reef (down to about 108 for dive #1) the Berthella Nudis showed up. One after another. Janolis, more Hermi's, Limbaugh's, a few Hermi's, Flava's, more Hermi's, several Hudson's, more Hermi's, a McFarlands, a couple Hermi's, a Flat worm and a few more Hermi's...
We saw 11 Nudi species on the day - 9 on Dive #1. It was unreal. Although the water wasn't "clear" it wasn't the chowder we had at Anacapa on Saturday last week. After 76 minutes we came back. This dive exceeded our expectations by a thousand percent.
Dive two was up against the clock. I had them stop filling my tank at about 1900 so we could get back in. We did about a 46 minute dive this time. TONS more Hermi's, another Flat Work that Claudette was going to bring home with her (against my protests she put it back, thankfully without naming it...) We also unwrapped some wacky, furry helix thing from the kelp. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.
Dive two was also excellent.
We climbed back onto the SunDiver and motored over to take our Chamber tour. If you've never been on Chamber day, its worth a sick day. There is just something way cool and a little sinister about a mid-week dive while all your co-workers are at the office.
After the Chamber tour we took down gear and I went down stairs and crashed hard. I came on with about 4 hours of sleep, so I was wiped out. Plus I was getting sick, and I had a big night planned for Chamber Evening at the Aquarium of the Pacific (we were going to be sitting at the cool table with Deep Sea Supply....)
An excellent day. Lots of fun Nudi shots. Mad lovin' to the apex buddy, HBZOOMZOOMGurl. We have more fun than divers should be allowed to have, babe. Huge props to Ray and the SunDiver for the great pin, and much love to Steve at OADC for playing along and keeping a secret - thanks, buddy.
* Link here for the Full Gallery from Chamber day: Linky
* Link here for the special breakout thread - "Flying Hermi" (with animation): Linkage
Enjoy some selected shots below.
---
Ken
=============================
Just a couple of Hermi's on these dives... You don't get to see the stripes on their backs too often, so I was pretty thrilled when this one decided to go over the edge!
Cuthona - we found this guy on the kelp. ON THE KELP! I've seen a zillion Cuthona, but never one on the kelp. They eat hydroids... he must have got lost! I had Chica bend the leaf so I could get him riding high.
This is a Berthella. These are the Draft Animals of the Nudi Kingdom. They remind me of a big steer with a saddle blanket on their back. Usually under rocks, we saw more than a half-dozen out just walking around, looking for a plough. I've seen these in Mexico, but never on Catalina.
Flatworm. I originally thought it was two when 'dette pointed to it.
Does anyone know what this thing is? It obviously drifts, as we pulled it off of a piece of giant kelp to get it into the water column for the shot.
This was the mother of all Hudson's. I've shot hundreds of these things, but never one this size. Gotta love the "ears" on these guys!
With all of the Hermi's, it was time to try some new stuff. I've always wanted to light a Nudi from the bottom, so when I saw one on a relatively clean piece of kelp, I had Chica put her 21w HID under the leaf. I snapped off many shots at many settings (as this was a new one for us) but this one is closest to what I was looking for. I wanted to light the Nudi from the bottom, but not blow it out from the top, so I dialed the strobes way, way back. See how different its body and cerata look when lit from beneath, when compared to the top pic or the fliers below? Also, look in the lower left corner - I wanted just a bit of her light to peek over the edge of the kelp leaf. We need to refine our execution but I'm close to the effect I was going for here. Not bad for a first time with this effect.
Little Flatworm - Claudette wanted to bring him home. She thought if she pretended he was a ring I might not notice... Flatworms are SO not Nudibranchs. They're fast, they're very animated, they catch purchase very quickly, etc.
What Flatworms don't do is fly. Nudi's fly well because most of them swim. Flatworms bury or run away from predators - so when we tried to fly this one, it kinda freaked out, knotted up and became a ball 'o Flatworm. Sorry for the fuzzy image. This guy was very tiny (put your hand next to Claudette's hand, above) and this shot is cropped way tight so you can see the knotted details... He was maybe 1/2" fully stretched. Knotted up he was less than a 1/4" ball flying through the water.
A fat little Janolis. Check the orange brain looking thing between its rhinophores (the antenna thingys...) This organ, in a better shot, looks just like a brain. Its so wacky. Its called the caruncle. While this structure is highly layered, giving it a huge surface area for chemical reception, the function of the organ is still unknown.
Some Flavah
A couple of Flying Hermi's. Go to the link above for more of the flying Hermi's
.
.
.
.
.
.
I've dived on boats with one or the other group on a number of occasions - but never have I been bookended by the two. It was pretty cool. Nice folks all around.
I'm never late - but this morning I could not get my act together, so I rolled up at about 6:44 AM. Plenty of time to get on the boat and settled for a 7:00 AM departure. I was just frustrated with cutting it so close.
I get on and load up. Claudette got there a few moments before me. The boat is full and quite crowded, but everyone is friendly. I'm looking forward to getting on, snoozing on the way out and dreaming of clear water.
We get to Catalina, and we learn that our Chamber schedule permitted us to do both of our two dives before we were to dock and walk the chamber. I like that schedule best.
Cap't Ray put us on the edge of Eagle Reef. We had 3 hours before we had to pull up and depart for the Chamber, so we decided to stay in this spot and either make one really long dive or two normal dives. After the dive briefing, he came over to 'dette and I and pointed out a special spot on the reef, recommending we dive there, as we were the only two with scooters. It was a little further, but could be very beautiful.
Ray was right!
I made the call not to take in Wide Angle - the water was reportedly not clear, and I didn't want to schlep if I wasn't going to get good shots. When we dropped into VERY clear water, I looked over at dette, and she at me. I rubbed my eyes in a crying motion - signaling that I should have brought the W/A lens...
We scooted for less than a minute and the water got cloudy and particulate laced... And then the Nudi's appeared. ZILLIONS of Hermissendas. Huge ones, tiny ones, 5, 6, 15 on a single rock.
As we dived deeper on far corner of the reef (down to about 108 for dive #1) the Berthella Nudis showed up. One after another. Janolis, more Hermi's, Limbaugh's, a few Hermi's, Flava's, more Hermi's, several Hudson's, more Hermi's, a McFarlands, a couple Hermi's, a Flat worm and a few more Hermi's...
We saw 11 Nudi species on the day - 9 on Dive #1. It was unreal. Although the water wasn't "clear" it wasn't the chowder we had at Anacapa on Saturday last week. After 76 minutes we came back. This dive exceeded our expectations by a thousand percent.
Dive two was up against the clock. I had them stop filling my tank at about 1900 so we could get back in. We did about a 46 minute dive this time. TONS more Hermi's, another Flat Work that Claudette was going to bring home with her (against my protests she put it back, thankfully without naming it...) We also unwrapped some wacky, furry helix thing from the kelp. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.
Dive two was also excellent.
We climbed back onto the SunDiver and motored over to take our Chamber tour. If you've never been on Chamber day, its worth a sick day. There is just something way cool and a little sinister about a mid-week dive while all your co-workers are at the office.
After the Chamber tour we took down gear and I went down stairs and crashed hard. I came on with about 4 hours of sleep, so I was wiped out. Plus I was getting sick, and I had a big night planned for Chamber Evening at the Aquarium of the Pacific (we were going to be sitting at the cool table with Deep Sea Supply....)
An excellent day. Lots of fun Nudi shots. Mad lovin' to the apex buddy, HBZOOMZOOMGurl. We have more fun than divers should be allowed to have, babe. Huge props to Ray and the SunDiver for the great pin, and much love to Steve at OADC for playing along and keeping a secret - thanks, buddy.
* Link here for the Full Gallery from Chamber day: Linky
* Link here for the special breakout thread - "Flying Hermi" (with animation): Linkage
Enjoy some selected shots below.
---
Ken
=============================
Just a couple of Hermi's on these dives... You don't get to see the stripes on their backs too often, so I was pretty thrilled when this one decided to go over the edge!
Cuthona - we found this guy on the kelp. ON THE KELP! I've seen a zillion Cuthona, but never one on the kelp. They eat hydroids... he must have got lost! I had Chica bend the leaf so I could get him riding high.
This is a Berthella. These are the Draft Animals of the Nudi Kingdom. They remind me of a big steer with a saddle blanket on their back. Usually under rocks, we saw more than a half-dozen out just walking around, looking for a plough. I've seen these in Mexico, but never on Catalina.
Flatworm. I originally thought it was two when 'dette pointed to it.
Does anyone know what this thing is? It obviously drifts, as we pulled it off of a piece of giant kelp to get it into the water column for the shot.
This was the mother of all Hudson's. I've shot hundreds of these things, but never one this size. Gotta love the "ears" on these guys!
With all of the Hermi's, it was time to try some new stuff. I've always wanted to light a Nudi from the bottom, so when I saw one on a relatively clean piece of kelp, I had Chica put her 21w HID under the leaf. I snapped off many shots at many settings (as this was a new one for us) but this one is closest to what I was looking for. I wanted to light the Nudi from the bottom, but not blow it out from the top, so I dialed the strobes way, way back. See how different its body and cerata look when lit from beneath, when compared to the top pic or the fliers below? Also, look in the lower left corner - I wanted just a bit of her light to peek over the edge of the kelp leaf. We need to refine our execution but I'm close to the effect I was going for here. Not bad for a first time with this effect.
Little Flatworm - Claudette wanted to bring him home. She thought if she pretended he was a ring I might not notice... Flatworms are SO not Nudibranchs. They're fast, they're very animated, they catch purchase very quickly, etc.
What Flatworms don't do is fly. Nudi's fly well because most of them swim. Flatworms bury or run away from predators - so when we tried to fly this one, it kinda freaked out, knotted up and became a ball 'o Flatworm. Sorry for the fuzzy image. This guy was very tiny (put your hand next to Claudette's hand, above) and this shot is cropped way tight so you can see the knotted details... He was maybe 1/2" fully stretched. Knotted up he was less than a 1/4" ball flying through the water.
A fat little Janolis. Check the orange brain looking thing between its rhinophores (the antenna thingys...) This organ, in a better shot, looks just like a brain. Its so wacky. Its called the caruncle. While this structure is highly layered, giving it a huge surface area for chemical reception, the function of the organ is still unknown.
Some Flavah
A couple of Flying Hermi's. Go to the link above for more of the flying Hermi's
.
.
.
.
.
.
